TV comedian is frontrunner for Guatemala presidency as voters weary of corruption

A TV comedian leads the race to become the next president of corruption-plagued Guatemala. With about 51 percent of polling stations reporting, Jimmy Morales, who has never held elective office, was leading with 26.5 percent of the vote. Morales is a 46-year-old actor rose to fame playing a simpleton who accidentally ends up becoming president. He was followed by businessman and longtime politician Manuel Baldizon, with about 18 percent, and ex-first lady Sandra Torres, with about 17 percent. If no candidate in the field of 14 gets a simple majority, the top-two finishers would advance to a run-off to be held Oct. 25.

Guatemala wants change and to not be governed by people with dark pasts.

Jimmy Morales

The race was rocked by the scandal that felled President Otto Perez, which sparked protests on a scale never before seen in the impoverished Central American nation. Some protesters had called for the vote to be postponed until anti-corruption reforms could be implemented, but the national electoral tribunal rejected petitions for a delay — triggering concern that many of the country’s 7.5 million voters would opt to stay home.

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